


Person of Interest recap for 4x12 (Control-Alt-Delete)

by fursasaida



Series: Person of Interest Recaps Lifeboat [4]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Meta, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 07:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17845100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fursasaida/pseuds/fursasaida
Summary: What it says on the tin.





	Person of Interest recap for 4x12 (Control-Alt-Delete)

This is a tricky recap to write. For one thing, I’m still really unhappy about Shaw’s exit. I don’t want to gloss over it, but I don’t want it to take over the recap, so I guess consider it noted. For another, I’m meant to focus on #2SAM2FURIOUS and obviously one of our Sams did not appear this week—yet at the same time there’s so much I want to talk about from the episode in general! But I am here for Shaw and Root, so I will do my best to stick to them.

In that interest, a few quick points about the episode in general! I think the episode as a whole handled Control brilliantly. Watching the dawn of her understanding that the world has shifted so completely around her that she became irrelevant without even knowing it was truly exciting, especially because I find her self-satisfied, myopic certainty infuriating even as I sympathize with it. (I mean, accepting the truth would upend everything for her. It’s understandable why she’d reject it. But also, as Finch said: you foolish woman.) I particularly loved her confrontation with Said, the “terrorist” from Dearborn: that one brief exchange illuminated so much about Samaritan’s work behind the scenes as well as calling out the American security establishment’s racial profiling. (I’m really bummed about Said for how briefly we knew him. Poor guy.) Also, having her do the introductory voice-over was great; I always love it when they mess with the opening credits.

I don’t love the return of the Samaritan kid, who is completely incongruous in the White House (I have to assume this is on purpose?), though having that visual in mind helped make Samaritan’s childishness funnier. I am convinced that when it texted Control “STOP IT. NOW.” it was deliberately mimicking her own words to the “Samaritan representative” in the Ops Room earlier. What a delightful little shit.

Finally: Grice’s partner—the blonde assassin who isn’t Martine, you know?—sucks. SHE SUCKS. The actress is clearly trying to channel Shaw, and she is failing spectacularly. GIVE HER THE HOOK.

On to the main event!

So, as expected, Root was on the warpath this episode. (Root and I are usually in total agreement when it comes to anything to do with Shaw, so this makes sense.) Surprisingly, much of the rampage took place more or less off-screen and in the background as the episode focused on Control. While I can imagine many of you are disappointed, I really enjoyed this choice, as after a while, endless montages of various permutations of Team Machine rampaging can risk becoming formulaic. (And exploring Control was so interesting! But that’s not our concern.)

I’ll admit that I would have liked to see more of Root and Reese working together; that’s not a dynamic we’ve seen much of. It seems that her long-standing contempt for Finch’s “Neanderthal” has dissipated of late, but we can’t really tell for sure. The kind of unity and rapport they demonstrated in the latter half of the episode, after they bagged Control, seems new for them. I like it very much, this banding together, and of course it makes sense after losing Shaw—I just wouldn’t have minded seeing it explored a little more.

When we finally get a good look at Root up close, it’s just after she and Reese have spectacularly derailed Control’s mission. It’s evident that while Root is putting on a good face—keeping it together to find Shaw—she’s not quite herself, either. “Hope you liked our rocket; we were saving it for a special occasion” is typical Root, but it’s lacking just a tiny bit of her usual verve. My poor darling assassin is so distraught :(((

At any rate, she and Reese bring Control back to a typically dank and clanky temporary base full of shadows, and we are immediately met with a resonant and familiar image: Control, strapped to a chair, inside a wire mesh cage. Just how she kept Root.

[LOST IMAGE: Presumably, Control tied to a chair.]  
_Caption to lost image: HOW THE TURNTABLES!!!_

Reese, of course, tries to do things the nice way, which Control predictably disdains. I particularly like how when Reese threatened her with Root, the camera cut to Root just outside the mesh, literally looking like a wild animal ready to be set loose. Feral Root is one of my favorite Roots.

When Control finally rejected Reese’s attempt at a nice civil interrogation by answering “Where is Shaw?” with “I don’t know,” Root’s response pretty much floored me:

> “I’m almost glad you said that.”

SCREECH. A callback to, like, the foundational line of Shaw/Root in this situation is both perfect and pretty disturbing, honestly. While this episode is a character study of Control in many ways, it also very much serves to remind us that Root hasn’t always been the way she is now; that she still has a great deal of darkness in her that at this moment she has excellent reason to let loose. Reminding us of “You should know: I kind of enjoy this sort of thing” “I am so glad you said that! So do I” serves to underline why all the players in the scene are here, and how important Shaw is to Root. But it also underlines the fact that Root is someone who enjoys torturing people and she is about to very much enjoy torturing Control. Not enough to make her glad Control doesn’t have the answer; but almost.

As Root’s turn at interrogation goes on, we find out that Control grew up without a mother. I’m really interested in this revelation: in motherlessness, she joins both Root and Shaw. While I understand perfectly Root’s not wanting to give Control any spontaneous personal information, I’m still sort of disappointed that the script didn’t do anything to point out those parallels. Root had to care for her own mother when she was a child, and then lost her fairly early. You would think, in this moment so carefully packed with parallels (not two but THREE torture scenes coexisting through script and set references), that it might be worth referencing just a little. But apparently not. Alas.

Speaking of Root holding back personal information, she clearly does not want to give away how much she cares about Shaw. Consider this little speech to Control:

> “Shaw used to work for you. Then you tried to kill her. You probably remember, she has an Axis II personality disorder, which means technically she’s a sociopath. Incapable of caring for others. But the thing about Shaw is, she does care. Enough to save my life. So today, I’m saving hers, and you’re gonna help even if you care about no one.”

This makes the whole situation sound like it’s just about evening up debts, or something abstract and honorable like that. Root is by no means making it clear that she is here trying to snatch the love of her goddamn life out of the jaws of death. It’s very obvious to us, of course, both because we have all the information and because Root’s tone and affect here are serious and emotional in a way that is unusual for her. But Control doesn’t know Root very well, and she certainly doesn’t have all the information, so I think Root probably pulled it off. Good for her. It must have been difficult.

Soon after this, Harold interrupts the interrogation to be the real Good Cop. After making a few conciliatory statements, he goes right ahead and rips my goddamn heart out:

> **Harold:** Sameen risked everything at the stock exchange. Not just to save our lives, but to pull the whole world back from the brink of disaster. All with the knowledge that no one would ever even know her name. Everybody here—all of us—spend our days saving the lives of people we don’t even know. Each loss is unbearable. But when it’s someone you know…  
>  **Control:** You think she’s dead. You think Shaw is dead, and you don’t have guts to tell them!  
>  **Reese:** You don’t know that, Finch.

First of all: sobbing forever, Harold, that was so mean and I love you. Secondly, I love that during this entire exchange Root and Reese are hilariously lurking outside the cage like extras from some sort of modern penny dreadful. Gothic henchmen. Just henching and lurking. I love it.

At the same time, and thirdly, Root’s face does some truly painful things here, especially after Control announces Harold’s thoughts. Root is extremely not OK with any line of thought that accepts or acknowledges Shaw’s death. Reese isn’t having it either, of course, but he and Root are not on the same plane of rejection. (As you know, I am on Finch’s side here. But with less composure.)

After this point, a great many fascinating things take place, but they are not relevant to our Lovers of Interest, so they will have to fall by the wayside. CUT TO:

  * Reese (pointlessly) beating up Grice and then sparing him when he realizes Grice is the agent who let Shaw go. EVERYONE LOVES SHAW SO MUCH!!! I’m in agony. (Seriously, Grice is staring at his impending death and still when Reese says ,“This is for Shaw,” Grice registers it and asks, “Sameen?” Grice loves her! Reese loves her! Root loves her! Harold loves her! A G O N Y)
  * Root and Reese continuing to display a lovely rapport ON THEIR MISSION TO FIND SHAW. Backing each other up! Napping in the car!
  * THE DOG WHIMPERING BECAUSE WHERE IS SHAW??
  * I PREDICTED THIS AND AS I PREDICTED IT HAS RUINED ME
  * BEAR IS SAD I’M SAD EVERYTHING IS SAD
  * [ROOT’S UNBELIEVABLY UNFAIR FACE](http://underthesunset91.tumblr.com/post/108039020370/i-miss-her-too) as they chase their fragile lead upstate



In conclusion, Shaw obviously isn’t in this episode, but her absence is felt strongly throughout. The degree to which all of the main characters (I’m counting Bear and you can’t stop me) so clearly love and miss her is truly moving. I was particularly struck by the way they used her name: where Harold has always called her Miss Shaw before, tonight she became Sameen. Grice called her Sameen too, which is a new one as far as I know. Root, of course, has been calling her by her given name for some time, and it makes sense for Reese to stick to Shaw because they were the closest thing each of them had anymore to fellow agents. But the proliferation of her name throughout the script—Sameen, Sameen, Sameen—had a real effect on me. Such a small gesture of intimacy, but such a meaningful one. It helped salve my broken heart a little, at least. 

Meanwhile, Root’s particular reaction—a delicate blend of determination, terror, and the kind of despairing rage that lets you give yourself over to your darkest impulses—is exactly correct for the character and the relationship, and as usual Amy Acker is knocking it out of the park. 

There’s no new episode next week or the week after, because CBS lives to torture me. See you after February 3rd!


End file.
